Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen — Restaurant in Santa Maria

Sunday October 8, 2023 Popeye's Chicken, Drive Thru Santa Maria, CA.

This is our 5th visit to the Santa Maria Popeye's Chicken in 3 months. I have refrained from comments after the previous 4 visits. Over all each of those last visits culminated in our having a significant negative experience. Each negative experience was due to various break downs of customer service, immaturity, irresponsibility, deliberate disrespectful conduct, negative attitudes and general inability to perform simple basic job duties. Unfortunately, today was more of the same. I am not going to spend too much more time on this matter. Other than to say that previous to these 5 unpleasant experiences. We have made several occasional visits over the past 3 plus years. If I were to grade all of those visits on a scale ranging between A+ and F. I would give a grade of C as the lowest end of the scale. Meaning that at the very least. Our experiences were uneventful and commonplace. There was nothing that struck us as being sub-par or above average. On the top end of the scale I would place a grade of B+. Meaning that on some of our visits. There was notable positive(s) in more than one of our experiences. Given the sum total of our own personal Santa Maria Popeye's Chicken patronage. Also taking into consideration the overall employee pool for fast food businesses consists of a high percentage of students with absolutely no previous work experience. They are only able to work a very limited part time schedule and they can't help the fact that they are plain and simple green. Within that group. There are many youngsters in a large sub-group. They too lack many basic attributes such as positive attitudes, maturity, entry level job skills, discipline, enthusiasm, desire, direction, dedication, appreciation, cooperation, the concept of customer service and the comprehension of why customer service is so critical. Also, gratitude for being given a job, humility, and/or work ethic to nave a few. If any business has a majority of these folks within their ranks. It is destined to result in noticeable periods of time where service will plummet then be followed by spans of renewal. This does not need to become a company's identity. Like everything. Change starts at the top. Owners that care, effective managers, management strategy, associate screening and selection, mentoring, training, incentives, accountability, reward and punnishment programs, etc. There are many exceptional, outstanding, responsible, earnest young people wanting jobs. It is the mark of a wise manager to understand this and it is the mark of their true worth. As to how well a manager can recruit, organize, encourage, unite, mentor and develop the raw unbridled talents of our inexperienced, eager, intelligent, future professionals and leaders. This is a terrific opportunity for Popeye's to pick up the baton and challenge themselves. Strive for improvement. Welcome positive growth. Be open to change. Support and encourage each other to seek excellence. Be a humble, active and willing contributor. We will return to Santa Maria Popeye's in 6 months with a genuine desire to see noticeable advancements made regarding the maturity and professionalism of all Popeye's Associates. These advancements will be most obvious in your execution of customer service, positive attitudes, efficiency, teamwork, performance of job duties, leadership and individual position execution, position confidence. You Can... If You...

I came in and used their $9.99 coupon for a 5 piece tender, 2 sides, and 2 biscuits. I chose mashed potatoes and jumbalaya as my sides. I also asked for BBQ sauce and blackened ranch. When I got my food the order felt deceptively light for having just paid $10.71. When I got home I checked and there were 5 pieces of the slimmest chicken strips I've seen in a while. The mashed potatoes were ice cold and full of clumps. The jumbalaya was mushy and tasteless. The chicken was way overdone and was clear it was just popped out of a frozen box and deep fried rather than fresh in store. They also didn't give me any of the BBQ sauce and only gave me the blackened ranch. The biscuits were dry and crumbly. I drove back here and waited again in the long line awkwardly holding my bag of food. I went up to the register and was greeted by the cashier who nearly screamed in my face "For here or to go?". I responded by placing my food on the counter and saying "I'm sorry. But this just wasn't very good. I was hoping to bring it back for a refund." The cashier looked at me, rolled her eyes, and then said "fine, wait a second." She walked back to get the supervisor who was the shorter blonde woman I originally ordered with. The shorter blonde woman (who appeared to be the manager) asked me what the problem was and I repeated everything you've just read. She checked the food out, agreed with me, and then gave me a refund. She ended it by saying "I'm very sorry for this inconvenience, please have a nice night." I told her it was ok and that I wasn't upset. I took my refund and went to Chipotle down the street. For $7 I got a bowl that was easily 3x the amount of food as Popeyes. I give them a 1 star because the food was awful, the cashier seemed to be in a big hurry and wasn't the nicest, but the manager was a very pleasant woman. I will not be returning to this location as it appears to be sub-par, over...

I went to the drive-thru to purchase a fresh spicy chicken breast... I pulled up because no one acknowledge that I was there waiting and it wasn't that busy so after I pulled up the person that was working through the drive-thru I think her name was Amber and this was about the 26th or the 27th of December.. she seemed to be upset that I drove on through and also that I asked for a fresh chicken breast.. but what I didn't understand is that I had to go inside she told me to pull up but I had to go inside to get my chicken other people that was behind me got their chicken brought out to them and got their chicken way before me and I didn't understand it I didn't understand that I actually had to go in and that's had they finished frying the batch of chicken breast.. to me that was very rude.. where are the customer, doesn't matter if we are ordering one chicken breast or 1,000.. treat us all with respect... I really never have this problem and especially if Kimberly is working she is very professional and treat all customers with respect... Take notes fr.. Kim.... And thank to the owner of Popeye's, thank you for your feedback.. you can provide great service to me and others by properly training your employees... Customers are the reason they...